Volkswagen’s I.D. Buzz MicroBus to be launched by 2025

Volkswagen’s I.D. Buzz is a high-tech Microbus of the future with an all-electric powertrain and autonomous driving capabilities.

It takes a whole bunch of design cues from the I.D. Concept and this includes stuff like the illuminated VW logo, the new shape of the LED headlamps, the slender taillights and of course the wonderful looking 22-inch alloy wheels.

The concept wears a two-tone paint, a Silver Metallic hue above the seam combined with a Cyber Yellow Pearl Effect finish below it and while that might not look like an ideal combination, we think it suits the I.D. Buzz.

The cabin too is a funky place to be as it can host up to eight people and everyone on board can be a passenger after activating the I.D. Pilot autonomous mode. When the concept is in charge of driving, the spokeless steering wheel retracts and merges into the instrument panel to free up more space which makes the cabin roomier.

If you see the car, the front and rear overhangs are short and this has helped Volkswagen maximise the space inside the car, as the wheelbase has gone up. Of course there’s a lot of technology to play with in the I.D. Buzz as it gets an augmented reality head-up display and side cameras. There’s also the touch-sensitive steering wheel and removable tablet placed between the seats.

According to the folks at Volkswagen, the I.D. Concept will be ready for series production by 2025.

Powering the I.D. Buzz are a pair of electric motors which develop 369bhp. There’s one electric motor at the front and the other installed at the back, the I.D. Buzz has an all-wheel-drive layout. Top speed of the car is rated at 160Km/h while it can sprint from 0-100Km/h in just over five seconds.

The large 111-kWh battery pack has enough juice for 600Kms while Volkswagen claims that the batteries can be charged to 80-percent level in just about half an hour when using a fast charger. The I.D Buzz concept is based on the group’s new Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB), in this case the XL version.

The flexible architecture allows the engineers to easily create a rear-wheel-drive variant with 268 hp and a smaller 83-kWh battery, which means VW has a lot to play with.

The short front and rear overhangs translates into more space on the inside, so a roomy cabin

Volkswagen has plans to come up with more than 30 EVs by 2025 and we already know there’s an all-electric compact hatchback in the works. Clearly with this Microbus and the Budd-e are both confirmed for production, we can’t wait to see what the company has got up its sleeve in the coming decade.